How to replace repeated instances of a character with a single instance of that character in python

Question

I want to replace repeated instances of the \"*\" character within a string with a single instance of \"*\". For example if the string is \"*

Answer 1

text = "aaaaaaaaaabbbbbbbbbbcccccccffffdffffdaaaaaa"

result = " "

for char in text:

if len(result) > 0 and result[-1] == char:
    continue
else:
    result += char

print(result) # abcda